WNYC News

New York City comptroller candidate Justin Brannan has a plan to reinvest a $500 million piece of the city's multibillion-dollar pension funds — and use it to pay for universal child care.

Brannan does not claim his plan would achieve this increasingly popular policy goal on its own. But similar to how the city comptroller’s office has been used to increase investment in affordable housing, Brannan said he would use the office to expand and support the city’s child care infrastructure.

He's running against Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine in an increasingly competitive Democratic primary for city comptroller.

Similar to the marquee Democratic mayoral race on the top of the ballot, where nearly all the candidates say that the city should do more to expand child care, both of the leading comptroller candidates agree the city must achieve universal child care, an increasingly salient issue among primary voters. But experts who reviewed Brannan’s proposal told Gothamist that if implemented, it would represent the first time the tools of the city comptroller’s office would be harnessed to fund child care.

A flub by federal prosecutors reveals the MTA has a strong case in its bid to preserve congestion pricing in Manhattan. That and more in a jam packed episode of On The Way rounding up the latest in New York City transit news. 

It's the Politics Brief from WNYC. This week, we talk about Zohran Mamdani's new campaign video in Spanish -- and why more mayoral candidates haven't released their own. We also give you the latest on Albany's slow progress toward a budget.

Mayoral candidates Zohran Mamdani and Brad Lander have catalyzed a debate over what kind of progressive meets the current political moment. 

Some want their top candidate to distinguish themself from moderate Democrats by campaigning on left-leaning ideas – like Mamdani’s calls for free buses and freezing the rent. Others want a candidate willing to make pragmatic policy concessions, like Lander's pledges to expand policing amid public safety concerns.

New York State has set out to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 85% by 2050 as mandated by the 2019 Climate Act. One of the biggest efforts to move the city towards meeting that goal has been a toll on drivers in New York City who enter Manhattan below 60th street. But the Trump administration has ordered an end to the congestion pricing program. While the MTA has so far ignored that order, the administration is now threatening to withhold federal money for New York City highway projects if the city doesn't comply. Tom Wright, President and CEO of the Regional Plan Association, joined WNYC host Michael Hill. He says stopping the project would be a huge blow to the state’s climate and clean energy goals.

Councilmember Shahana Hanif, the primary sponsor of the mandatory composting law in New York City, is pushing back against the Adams’ administration’s decision to stop fines to most buildings that break composting rules for the rest of the year.

That move came just weeks after the city began issuing fines for composting mandates in the first place.  

Councilmember Hanif, who represents parts of Brooklyn like Kensington, Borough Park and Park Slope, talks with WNYC's Sean Carlson more about it.

Dustin Longmire says the Faith-based Affordable Housing Act could help alleviate the state’s housing crisis, fulfill a spiritual call, and help revitalize religious institutions and better connect them with their communities. It also puts him in the middle of an ongoing debate over the state’s affordability crisis, where efforts to build high-density housing in suburbs like Rotterdam meet with resistance from municipal officials who argue for local control.

To answer NIMBY, or “Not in my backyard,” Longmire says YIGBY: “Yes, in God’s backyard.”

With Pope Francis's passing, and his 12 year pontificate drawing to a close, assessments of his legacy are underway. Conservatives in the Church voiced concern the reform-minded Pope watered down Catholic teaching and threatened the Christian identity of Europe and the U.S. Meanwhile, progressive Catholics applauded Francis's focus on the poor and marginalized, but some say Francis didn't go far enough.  

And there are two church leaders representing both sides of that debate who call the New York region home.  

Christopher Bellitto, a church historian who's currently a professor at Kean University in Union County, New Jersey, talked with WNYC's Sean Carlson more about it. 

The future of Mayor Eric Adams’ “trash revolution” — which centers around getting piles of trash bags off city sidewalks and into containers — is as uncertain as the outcome of this year’s mayoral election.

The initiative has been the most notable policy push by the sanitation department since Adams took office in 2022. Since then, the city has mandated businesses as well as residential buildings with fewer than 10 units to put their trash out to the curb in bins.

But the push to require larger residential buildings — those with 10 or more units — to use garbage bins still hangs in the balance. Sanitation officials have said containerizing that garbage will in many cases require the installation of large bins in parking spaces. It's a piece of the “trash revolution” rollout that's not expected to be ready for years and one that will be overseen by whoever wins this year’s mayor’s race.

The idea of banning trash bag mountains from city sidewalks is widely popular. Nearly all the Democratic primary candidates in this year’s mayoral race said they support the plan and would continue its implementation.

But there was one notable exception: former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who polls show is the frontrunner in the race. His campaign declined to respond to multiple requests for comment on the topic.

Presidents Trump's administration recently directed the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management to stop construction on New York's Empire Wind Project. Trump suggested the plan was rushed through its approval without sufficient analysis. But stopping the project could be a huge blow to New York State’s climate and clean energy goals. Emily Pontecorvo, founding staff writer, Heatmap News, joined WNYC host Michael Hill. 

But first, Lulu Miller, host of Radiolab's Terrestrials kids nature show, breaks down how electricity makes it to your light switch.